He doesn't post his tax returns, so I'm not sure what is free work and what is hired work, but I think he is at least able to make a living doing marketing and some film stuff. He also worked with Tim Ferriss on The 4 Hour Body and apparently works for him full-time now: He's not fuck you money rich, but doesn't seem to be doing too bad for a 24 year old. Leaps and bounds ahead of me anyway.
I know I'm a little late to this thread, but I could use a quick bit of advice from the board: I've been in school to become a Physician Assistant. (No, not a medical assistant, a PA. You know, the guy you see when they say, "Well, the Doctor is booked, but Joe the PA can see you tomorrow at 2:30".) Anyway, I'm taking a bit of a break from school to work for a while. We have bills to pay and the past 3 years were expensive. I figure I'm going to be out of school for about 2.5 years then go back and do the Master's portion of PA school. I got my BS in "General Studies - Concentration in Health Sciences" in the middle of May. So, while I work, I'm thinking of doing an MBA evening program. It's one night a week, and since I am a disabled Vet, tuition will be free as long as I stay in state. I think it's a 2 year program. (PA school is full-time, full load, no time for work, so doing that for two years is not a financial option at this point.) Is it worth doing? I know an MBA really doesn't have anything to do with being a PA, but at the same time I've realized that life happens and planning my future around being a PA 4.5 years from now is pretty stupid. Shit has a way of popping up, and I don't want to bank my entire life on being a PA "someday". It seems like a BS doesn't do shit anymore and to be competitive, I need more letters after my name. I'm going to get the higher level of certification for my current job (the BS qualifies me to take that exam), but it seems I need to do more education. Also, is an MBA an MBA, or do they look at which school you got it from? I can go to URI for free, or I can try to do something online and pay for it. Northeastern has an online MBA, but they want $65k to do it. My immediate thought is, "Will it eventually pay for itself?" and I can't see it doing so for that kind of money. Sorry this is a bit rambling, but I'm still hashing out my thoughts on it. What do you guys think?
I'll admit I don't have MBA experience, but it seems to me that a Free MBA will probably pay for itself even if a costly MBA will wind up potentially being a bit more valuable.
I've heard the argument that an MBA scares some potential employers off because a lot of times they do not want to pay what that person is worth. Sometimes the difference between a new grad and a grad with an MBA and no experience in their eyes is only salary. Take this with a grain of salt, as I am neither an employer nor the holder of an MBA. I think a lot of the value of an masters also depends on the area of study. My sister has her master's in library science (bachelor's in political science) but she did not get her masters until after she had worked for some time with the state of California. The majority of her professional career, post masters, was in part time research and in research as part of her own company that she started herself. Though she makes good money while she IS working, her work comes in spurts and is not your typical 40 hour a week set up (this actually works for her perfectly because her daughter is special needs).
(I have an MBA from a top 20 school.) It depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to work in management of a Fortune 500 or the Next Big Thing, an MBA is not just an MBA and it definitely matters which school you went to. In this case, it's Top 50 (some might say 25), Regional Powerhouse, or Don't Bother. If you want to have some more knowledge under your belt that might help out with whatever random work you end up doing, I think URI or Northeastern would suit just fine. Especially if it's free! One other point people seem to not realize sometimes: an MBA literally teaches you how. to. manage. While you will likely study econ, stats, finance, and accounting, the overall emphasis is on knowing enough technical stuff to understand the people who will be reporting to you and make decisions accordingly. If you never want to be in charge of people or the guy on the line making tough calls, an MBA is rather pointless, but if you do, it can be invaluable.
Basically, if you want to be anything Department Head or higher at a hospital (not on the M.D. side, I'm talking support shit like Diagnostic Imaging, Lab, etc), you need an MBA. I figure if nothing else, it's something that will set me apart in that group, as there aren't many people with a technical degree and the MBA. Bottom line: I want to get paid as much as I possibly can, so if it will pay me back, I'll get it.
What? I slacked off in undergrad (barely over a 3.0), went to grad school where I was anonymously voted 44th out of 51 in my graduating class for How Hard I Worked on the group projects, graduated and spent my time making a StarCraft 2 map instead of an internship, and now I'm making nearly six figures, with well over six figures in stock, working for a Top 5 company making stuff I love. What are you talking about? This economy rules! ... Okay, but seriously, it wasn't that easy. My advice (24, starting a job at a big videogame company next week after a lengthy HR process). Knowing people IS huge, but you can supplement or overcome that by targeting companies/people. In my field (videogame development) the workers are also fans. This applies obviously to music, film, and other creative endeavors, but I think if you're like a stock broker you can certainly be a fan of certain companies philosophies or something, so target them. Whether it's walking in, finding a recruiter, or whatever, do something personal to make yourself known to them, and make it clear you are a fan of their work/style. In many businesses, the higher ups truly believe what they are doing is the best way, so seeing a young upstart who likes their work is flattering, if it's honest. For example, Riot Games (makers of League of Legends, a popular TiB videogame) was one of the companies I targeted, and while I didn't get the job there I know for a fact the company's lead designer recognizes my name if I were to reapply. I went to the Riot booth at a conference and struck up a conversation. I said I liked LoL (pretty much a requirement to work there) but pointed out things that a lot of the other fanboys didn't: for example, the genre is so hardcore and the communities are so dickish, that they went to great lengths to hide things like win/loss records to prevent people in lobbies from finding a guy with a losing record and running him off by calling him a noob and shit. The recruiter seemed pleasantly surprised to notice a niche design decision and I got my app put in for an entry level design job. I did a design test and while it wasn't the best, I talked with the lead designer about his past experience (on Warcraft 3) and it turns out with were both Magic: The Gathering players so I talked about that. From then on, when an opening appeared, he emailed me personally to do more design tests. Each time I was in the top few but never got the job, but I know that in the future I may be able to go there, because my name is tied with "Real Believer in What We Do" and not just some derp who sent out 300 applications to every company.